Ferengi death ritual
The Ferengi death ritual was a death ritual performed on a deceased Ferengi. Preparations Upon learning that he had six days to live after being diagnosed with Dorek Syndrome during his annual insurance physical, Quark drew up a list of preparations he had to fulfill before he died. These included making out his will, funding his mother's pension, making arrangements for a funeral service, and paying off all Ferengi debts. ( ) Disposal of the body Vacuum-desiccation The process following death of a Ferengi could be best summarized by Odo, who found "the Ferengi ritual of chopping up their loved ones and selling them be irresistible." Odo explained to Quark, in 2370, that he found it to be "a fitting and distinguished way to honor the memory of great Ferengi entrepreneurs." ( ) A more notable aspect of Ferengi death rituals happened between the chopping up and selling pieces of the body, where the remains were immediately vacuum-desiccated, then divided into fifty-two disks, each disk typically marked with the Ferengi Seal of Dismemberment. ( ) In addition to localized sales, one could always sell the desiccated remains of their corpse on the Ferengi Futures Exchange. ( ) One of the Federation's early encounters with this ritual was following the death of Ferengi Doctor Reyga aboard the in 2369. Though, according to Doctor Beverly Crusher, Reyga's death was under questionable circumstances, his family insisted that she not perform an autopsy, much less his body be touched, until they performed the Ferengi death ritual. The specifics of the death ritual were that "the body can't be violated before it's buried." ( ) Brunt, in 2374, purchased fifty-two disks of a then very much alive Quark, who could obviously not immediately fulfill his end of a contract, and who rhetorically asked, "What do you expect me to do? Kill myself?" Brunt replied, "Of course not. You can have someone do it for you. I recommend strangulation. It leaves the body relatively unmarked for desiccation." In spite of this request, Brunt's intentions included "a thousand ideas of how to defile his remains."( ) Burial With further regards to the death of Ferengi Dr. Reyga, Federation Dr. Crusher, nonetheless, disregarded the family's wishes of not touching the body, whom she felt were "more concerned about ritual than finding out the truth about how he died." Unable to determine what she needed with tricorder scans, Crusher performed the autopsy anyway, and found no additional cause of death. For her actions, she was chastised by Jean-Luc Picard, who reminded her that she "interfered in the burial rituals of another culture," adding, "the family will have to be notified. I don't doubt that they will react strongly." ( ) Follow the death of Smeet, the only Grand Nagus to be assassinated while in office, his body and that of his First Clerk were buried together, indicating a further ungracious end for the former Nagus. ( ) The funeral service A funeral service was the final part of the Ferengi death ritual. ( ) Variations included, such as in the case of Grand Nagus Zek's funeral in 2369, a private service, with a portrait of the deceased displayed behind a table of their desiccated remains up for purchase. ( ) In the case of Quark's 2374 funeral arrangements, which proceeded the pre-sale of his remains, he wanted his eulogy to take place in the holosuite, where he intended to charge an admission fee of three slips of latinum a head. ( ) Category:Death ceremonies Category:Ferenginar